Malachi 3:3
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.”
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."
This is totally an email forward, but regardless, the "moral" of the story is extremely helpful for me. I have a difficult time grasping the fact that God cares about me as an individual. I tend to think His love for me is obligatory, and also that it's because I'm part of the collective Bride of Christ, rather than believing that He loves ME, whom he created personally. I usually think that yes, He listens when I am talking to Him, but at the same time He is distracted by all the others vying for His attention, so He's not fully paying attention. Satan tells me it would be selfish to believe I've got God's undivided attention, too full of myself and greedy. But I know that Truth refutes that lie. He knows each and every hair on my head, He feeds each sparrow each day and cares much more for me. And yet I still can't wrap my head around the fact that He is constantly, without turning an eye away, watching and working on my life. I've never felt more loved.
